A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):

Jonah Hex (2010): Possibly the weirdest looking summer blockbuster (with the exception of Christoper Nolan’s Inception), this adaptation of a relatively obscure DC comics mixes the western and fantasy genres with action movie cliches.  The fact that certain sequences in the trailer look to be inspired by Django (and even Jodorowsky) is a plus, lack of buzz and no advance screenings combine to make a big minus. With Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, and ubiquitous eye candy Megan Fox.  A long shot for weirdness, but the summer doldrums are upon us. Jonah Hex official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Mary and Max (2009): This Australian claymation release about an unlikely online friendship between an eight-year old goth girl in Melbourne and a friendless middle-aged New Yorker with Asperger’s syndrome is currently languishing in our reader-suggested review queue. This DVD release helps its reviewability. Buy Mary and Max.

Mystery Train (1989):  This anthology of three short films set in Memphis is not particularly weird, though Elvis’ ghost does appear.  This Criterion Collection release is notable for Jim Jarmusch completists, however. Buy Mystery Train (Criterion Collection).

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Mary and Max (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy Mary and Max [Blu-ray].

Mystery Train (1989): See entry in DVD above. Buy Mystery Train (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray].

NEW ON ITUNES:

Burning Inside (2010): Read our capsule review.  Priced at $4.99.  We’re not going to be tracking everything that’s released on ITunes, at least not until this format gets a much larger market share, but it is interesting to note this new distribution avenue for independent films. Buy Burning Inside at Itunes.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Samurai Princess (2009):  Another Japanese splatterpunk fantasy in the Meatball Machine vein.  In a weird mythical fantasy forest fusing feudal elements with modern anachronisms, a rape victim is turned into a “mecha” and infused with the eleven souls of her fellow victims to seek revenge.  A review of this one has been pending for quite a while (it’s also available on Netflix streaming, where I saw it); it’s not great, but fans of the genre will get the weird gore they’re looking for.   Shocked to see this show up on YouTube.  Watch Samurai Princess free on YouTube.

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

On a personal note, I’ll be on vacation for most of next week.  But that doesn’t mean the site won’t be updated; we’re still going to supply you guys with a full week of weird movies.  You can look forward to a review of the unjustly hated kiddie fantasy The Adventures of Sharkboy andf Lavagirl in 3D, from Robert (Sin City) Rodriguez, as the odd-movie-out entry in Radiation Scarred Review’s SHARKATHALON! blogathon.  We’ll also be unveiling two reader submissions for June’s review writing contest: recommendations for Brian Yuzna‘s Society (1989) and Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971).  Alfred will also be around to review another B-Western, The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926), on Thursday.  So I don’t think I’ll  be missed too much.

By the way, there’s still plenty of time to enter the June review writing contest and win 2 DVDs… details here.

It’s another only slightly absurd week in weird search term used to locate the site.  We’ll go with “naked happening during making movie” as the one that caught our eye out of a weak field.

The exponentially-expanding reader suggested review queue, reprinted for your convenience:  Trash Humpers (we’re waiting for the DVD release); Kwaidan; Six-String Samurai; Andy Warhol’s Trash; Altered States; Memento; Nightmare Before Christmas/Vincent/Frankenweenie; The Science of Sleep; The Attic Expeditions; After Last Season; Getting Any?; Performance; Being John Malkovich; The Apple; Southland Tales; Arizona Dream; Spider (2002); Songs From The Second Floor; Singapore Sling; Alice [Neco z Alenky]; Necromentia; Hour of the Wolf; MirrorMask; Possession; Suspiria; Mary and Max; Wild Zero; 4; Nothing (2003); The Peanut Butter Solution; Ninja Scroll; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Danger: Diabolik; Faust; Sublime; Battle Royale; Pink Floyd: The Wall; Escanaba In Da Moonlight; Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter; Zardoz; The Films of Suzan Pitt; Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros]; Paprika; The Holy Mountain; Brazil; The Casserole Masters; Dark Crystal; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets; The Nines; 964 Pinocchio; The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel; Tetsuo; Dead Ringers; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ; The Bride of Frank; La Grande Bouffe; Uzumaki [Spiral]; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; The Addiction; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it); 3 Dev Adam; Fantastic Planet; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; May; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; Little Otik; Final Programme; Careful; Sweet Movie; The Triplets of Belleville; “Foutaises” (short); Johnny Suede; “Jam” (TV, UK, 2000), The Tale of the Floating World, Un Chien Andalou, Bloodsucking Freaks; Fellini Satyricon; Three Crowns of the Sailor; 8 1/2; Death Race 2000; Dororo; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; Dogville; and Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The Ten; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès) (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Hellzapoppin’; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Lust in the Dust; Celine and Julie Go Boating; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” The Magic Christian; Black Cat, White Cat; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; Robot Monster; Nightdreams; and 3 Women. Wow, just wow.

A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.

Well, the summer blockbuster season is upon us, which means that there will be even less chance for weird or unusual films to get a major release.  If your dead set on seeing something in a theater this week, you may want to check out Winter’s Bone, a “hillbilly noir” that, while not weird, is drawing almost universal praise and early Oscar buzz for star Jennifer Lawrence.  Here’s the official site .

NEW ON DVD:

Long Pigs (2007): Fake documentary about a camera crew documenting the life of a cannibalistic serial killer. Sound familiar? Buy Long Pigs.

Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy) (2009): Heads up, casual Monty Python fans! (Hardcore fans will have already pre-ordered this). Not the Messiah is a comic oratorio (riffing off Handel’s “Messiah”) that retells the story of the famous not-messiah Brian through newly written songs (and some old favorites). From a Royal Albert Hall concert, starring Eric Idle with guest appearances by the surviving Pythons (including Terry Gilliam, but minus John Cleese). Buy Not the Messiah.

Shutter Island (2010): Read our capsule review. Atmospheric psychothriller from Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Buy Shutter Island.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Shutter Island (2010): See entry in DVD above. Buy Shutter Island [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE

Baby Geniuses (1999): OK, so it’s an incredibly stupid comedy, not a weird movie, but we mention it for those bad movie lovers who enjoy torturing themselves. This movie about talking babies who disco-dance and deliver karate chops made Roger Ebert cry. With embarrassed Christopher Lloyd and Kathleen Turner. Followed by the even worse Superbabies: Baby Geniuses II (2004). You couldn’t pay me to watch it, but you can watch it for free! Watch Baby Geniuses free on YouTube.

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

First off, don’t forget about our latest DVD contest: details here.   We’ve already got a new contest in the works for July, with a special twist: it will be open to UK residents only.

Next week, look for a review of the recently released Alice in Wonderland variation, Malice in Wonderland, set in an underworld of quirky London gangsters; the surreal new indie horror Burning Inside; Julie Taymor’s oft-trippy Beatles musical, Across the Universe (2007) (this one could get bumped for a surprise new release); and Edward G. Ulmer’s expressionist horror masterpiece, The Black Cat, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

It was a good week for weird search terms used to locate the site.  We like the fact that someone came here looking for the straight dope on “psychotronic KGB,” and where else but here would you go to get the lowdown on “very bizarre malice sur tube”?  Still, as far as weird search terms go, it’s hard to beat our favorite, “weird colourful round parasitic things on a wall in an asian village.”

And, in the we-shouldn’t-be-laughing-at-others-misfortune-but-we-will-anyway department, we have to mention that a spammer tried to post a comment from a domain delightfully titled www.i-have-blood-in-my-stool.com.  If you do have blood in your stool, you might go there for comfort.  Or, try a crazy alternative therapy, like seeing a doctor.

The reader-suggested review queue is still growing at an exponential rate.  Here’s how it stands: Trash Humpers (waiting for DVD release); Malice in Wonderland (jumping in line for a review this week); Kwaidan; Six-String Samurai; Andy Warhol’s Trash; Altered States; Memento; Nightmare Before Christmas/Vincent/Frankenweenie; The Science of Sleep; The Attic Expeditions; After Last Season; Getting Any?; Performance; Being John Malkovich; The Apple; Southland Tales; Arizona Dream; Spider (2002); Songs From The Second Floor; Singapore Sling; Alice [Neco z Alenky]; Necromentia; Hour of the Wolf; MirrorMask; Possession; Suspiria; Mary and Max; Wild Zero; 4; Nothing (2003); The Peanut Butter Solution; Ninja Scroll; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Danger: Diabolik; Faust; Sublime; Battle Royale; Pink Floyd: The Wall; Escanaba In Da Moonlight; Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter; Zardoz; The Films of Suzan Pitt; Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros]; Paprika; The Holy Mountain; Brazil; The Casserole Masters; Dark Crystal; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets; The Nines; 964 Pinocchio; The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel; Tetsuo; Dead Ringers; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ; The Bride of Frank; La Grande Bouffe; Uzumaki [Spiral]; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; The Addiction; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it); 3 Dev Adam; Fantastic Planet; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; May; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; Little Otik; Final Programme; Careful; Sweet Movie; The Triplets of Belleville; “Foutaises” (short); Johnny Suede; “Jam” (TV, UK, 2000), The Tale of the Floating World, Un Chien Andalou, Bloodsucking Freaks; Fellini Satyricon; Three Crowns of the Sailor; 8 1/2; Death Race 2000; Dororo; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; Dogville; and Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The Ten; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès) (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Hellzapoppin’; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; and Lust in the Dust.